


Safety in Numbers

by quietmillennial



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Basically, Cheating, Consensual Underage Sex, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Max fucks up, Max learns a hard lesson, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Pre-Poly, They're older teens, Underage Sex, but still, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21645499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietmillennial/pseuds/quietmillennial
Summary: Max has no understanding as to what a working polyamorous relationship entails, despite having a wonderful example right in front of him.
Relationships: David/Gwen/Jasper (Camp Camp), Max/Neil (Camp Camp), Max/Neil/Nikki (Camp Camp), Max/Nikki (Camp Camp)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	Safety in Numbers

Neil grumbled half-heartedly as he slipped his sweater over his frail body. He adjusted the neck to cover his bruises, that faded into his skin like watercolor. He looked over his shoulder, squinting in the dark, and watched the mass beside him rise and fall beneath the cheap sheets of his bed, and his snoring was almost soothing.

It would’ve been soothing if Neil wasn’t extremely pissed at the deep skinned bastard laying next to him. Oh, Max had been wonderful, sweet and pandering to every one of Neil’s needs.  
Almost all of them. But as he stood up and quietly left the room, he acknowledged the soft tear in his heart. Max didn’t need him. He was there for what Max saw as an experiment. He didn’t realize how much it hurt Neil to creep out from his arms and leave his bed.

Neil knew enough about experiments to know that they were fickle things. Many of them fail. They’re forgotten for better projects, for results.  
It was empty, knowing that Max hadn’t found a result. 

At least not one he liked. It tore Neil apart. That little tear was pulled harder every time he thought about how unfulfilled Max was with him.  
He never talked to him about it. Max never acknowledged their situation until it was a present predicament. He would openly flirt with Nikki wherever they went. And that, that was what tore it.

Max fucking knew just how much Neil tripped over himself around her. Before the whole casual sex thing, Max used to try and get Neil to ask her out, but now, apparently, that was dead.

Neil walked down the stairs and tried to avoid Max’s three guardians, but alas Gwen stood by the door strategically, her arms crossed.

Oh, shit.

David and Jasper came from around the corner, concern etched into the creases in their faces.  
Wonderful. Fucking wonderful.

“Um,” Neil stuttered timidly, “I was just helping Max finish his project. I’ve gotta head home before Dad gets antsy.”

“Neil, honey,” said Gwen, worryingly gentle, “I called your father. You told him you were staying here tonight. What were you planning on doing when you left? You live five miles away and Max drove you here.”

There is no accusation in her tone, just curiosity.  
“I don’t know,” Neil admitted. “I was just gonna call him and tell him Harper got sick, I guess.”  
Jasper sighed heavily. “Sit down, kiddo.”  
Neil grimaced, but obeyed, following the three adults into their small living room, filled with art and plants and odd colors. His heart dropped to his stomach, sitting on the ugly yellow couch.

Here it came.

“Max hasn’t turned in an assignment in over a month,” stated David, “If you could have changed that, I think you would have already.”

He was right. Neil had tried and eventually gave up on helping Max in school. He just didn’t care anymore. He nodded absently. The trio exchanged troubled looks, unsure of how to proceed. Gwen groaned quietly in aggravation. 

“Neil,” she said blankly, “Are you and Max. . . seeing each other?”

Neil knew exactly where this was going. His head started spinning, and, incredulously, he started to laugh. “Not really.”

He could the weight of their concern multiply, and finally, David broke, “You are having sex, though, aren’t you."

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Neil started to shake, his heart raced. David caught on immediately. “Neil, it’s okay,” he soothed. “It’s normal, and we aren’t angry-”

“-At you,” Jasper interjected. Confusion overtook Neil’s panic and he looked at the blonde in wonder. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Neil,” said Gwen, “Are Nikki and Max together?”

Neil paled. No, that couldn’t be so. Neil would never hurt Nikki like that. “No,” he stated solidly, “I wouldn’t do that her. They’re not together.”

“Are you two?” asked Jasper softly, “You and Max, I mean.”

“Like I said, not really.” Neil couldn’t believe he was saying this out loud. “We just. . .you know.”  
The room suddenly changed. Worry morphed into an anger that Neil realized wasn’t his to face.   
“Why is this important?”

“Max had Nikki in his bed at two in the morning last Saturday,” said Gwen tightly. “Did you know this was going on?”

Neil’s eyes widened. “N-no,” he said, “He didn’t tell me anything.” There, his voice broke, There, tears began to fall from his eyes as his heart collapsed on itself. He crumpled into Gwen’s arms as she hugged him. He finally, finally, cried. This all felt wrong for so long, and now he knew why. Her hand is suddenly carding through his hair as she sat beside him.

Neil finally found the mother inside the she-wolf. “I’m so sorry, Neil,” she murmured, “I’m so sorry.” Jasper and David exchanged looks, anger and confusion. Neil pulled back too quickly. It had been a long time since he’d had a hug from his mom. “But,” he looked at them, three people gone from fucking for fun to a makeshift family, “isn’t this normal?”

“No,” said Jasper decisively. “Well, it’s normalized, but it shouldn’t be. If he calls this,” Jasper gestured toward Neil, “polyamory, he’s dead wrong and he hasn’t paid attention for six years. Polyamory isn’t a licence to fuck with people’s emotions. It’s trust, something he doesn’t deserve at the moment. What he’s doing isn’t fine and it’s not yours or Nikki’s fault for being involved. Neither of you had any idea what he was doing, more than likely. But it needs to stop.”

“I love him,” Neil murmured absently. He didn’t realize he’d said it. He was numb. “I love her, he’s the one who tried to me to get with her,” his voice rose in anger as he tried to put pieces together that didn’t fit, “Why the fuck would he do this to me?!”

David placed a tentative hand on his shoulder, sitting on his other side. “We don’t know, but it can’t continue. Neither you nor Nikki deserve this. I don’t know what he’s doing, but it will stop.”

Neil had never heard that much authority in the kind counselor-gone-teacher’s voice. But, he’d be damned if he said he didn’t believe the ginger.

“Mama, Daddy, Pops! My tummy hurts!” The little girl wandered into the living room, oblivious to anything but the comfort she craved. David jumped up as Gwen rubbed Neil’s shoulder consolingly.

Scooping her up into his arms, David cooed, “What’s wrong, Firefly?”

“I need milk,” she said as-o-matter-o-factly. David smiled tiredly. “That you do. And as soon as you're feeling better, it’s back to bed, yeah?”

Harper looked up with doe eyes, nodding. He looked back at his partners. Understanding their answering glances, he took their daughter to kitchen to treat her. 

“What do I do?” asked Neil nervously. Gwen answered, just loud enough to overshadow the distracting babble of father and daughter from the other room, “You need to talk to Nikki first and foremost. I’m confident she’s in the dark, too. You two together can confront Max. It’ll make you both better off.”

“What if she hates me for it? She could just not believe me. I wouldn’t blame her for it. And, Max, he’s never going to forgive me if I do this.”

Finally, Jasper sat down in David’s vacated seat. “You don’t take an abuser’s feelings into account, you can’t.”

The description made Neil crave some of that milk, too. “He’s not. . .he isn’t abusive.”

Gwen spoke up.

“Right now, he is emotionally manipulating the two of you to do what he wants. That wasn’t the first time they were together, I’m almost sure of it. This isn’t the first time you two were together, that’s clear. Max in this moment in time is emotionally abusing you and Nikki, both. You don’t excuse abuse,” she paused take Neil’s hands in her own, force him to look at her, “It’s a spiral you can’t escape. Please, take my word for it.”

“. .Can one of you take home? So I can leave her message on the way?”

Jasper and Gwen looked at each other, as if attempting to gage something in the other.

“Yeah,” said Jasper after a minute, “I’ll carry you home. We can stick with your plan and tell your dad the Harper’s sick.”

Neil felt this weird calm with Jasper’s words. “I don’t know how to thank you guys.”

Gwen smiled and pulled Neil into one more hug. “Promise me that whatever happens, you’ll stand your ground. That’ll be thanks enough.” Neil returned the hug, savoring the care in Gwen demeanor. “I will.”

“Then we’re even, bud.”

He smiled stood with Jasper, following him into the kitchen, where David and Harper giggled at the other’s milk mustache. “Oh, Jazz, you startled me,” said David as whipped his head around toward the hallway.

Jasper smiled. “I’m just gonna carry Neil home real quick. I’ll be back in a few.”

David nodded as he rose and once again took their angel in his arms, carrying her up to bed.

“Wait,” Harper said. David knowingly grinned and let her go to sprint toward Jasper. 

He caught her, hands under her arms, and vaulted her toward the ceiling as she squealed in delight.

“Alright,” said Gwen, coming behind Jasper, “it’s time for bed.” Harper surrendered and willingly changed hands into her mother’s arms. Jasper gave her an eskimo kiss, saying softly, “See you in the morning, Lightning Bug.”

The ride was quiet for Jasper’s part, focusing on the road and the odd music pumping through his speakers.

. . .

Nikki stretched as she awoke. She grabbed her phone to check and see if her coach had changed their morning run. However, she was distracted by the voicemail from Neil.

‘Hey, I probably could have texted you, but it didn’t feel right. We need to talk in seventh. It’s about Max.

. . . I’m so sorry.’


End file.
